Dyslexia Style Guide
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| 2. Accessible Formats. It is important that documents and publications are prepared to be accessible in alternative formats for people with visual impairments or reading difficulties. These should include availability in electronic format which can be read by screen reading software. Printed documents are created in computers, so it should be possible to issue the electronic files. Some documents will only be available electronically. Word files are the easiest for individual viewing preferences and for listening. Portable Document Format (PDF) files keep the presentation better than Word files, but are not as easy to use. We suggest offering both the source Word files and derived PDF files where possible. Publicise availability of accessible formats. Preparing a document for text-reading software Listening to a document using a text reader will take longer than visual reading. Put full stops after headings to make the voice drop and pause a pale tint similar to the background colour will make the dots less visually distracting. Put semicolons, commas, or full stops after bullet points to make a pause. Use Styles in Word to organise headings and formatting. Avoid automatic numbering as some text readers will not read these. Use manual. Contents Page listings should be hyperlinked to the relevant section to aid navigation. Number menu items. Use internal and external hyperlinks for ease of navigation. Avoid text in capital letters in mid-line, as they maybe read as single letters. Include as few signs and symbols as are absolutely necessary, e.g. asterisks or dashes (both short and long, as these will bespoken. Long dashes should be avoided use colons to make the voice pause. Use straight quotation marks. Curly or slanting ones maybe readout as back quote by some screen readers. Avoid Roman Numerals and No. for number. Consider whether abbreviations and acronyms need full stops. Text readers may have difficulty with tables in Word and may not automatically move onto the next cell without manual use of the Tab key. Avoid text in images. Listeners cannot hear it. Repeat in the main text. Use hyphens in compound words to aid text reading pronunciation. Chunk phone numbers to avoid being read as millions or hundreds of thousands. Download 223.92 Kb. Share with your friends:
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